Chapter 20
twenty
. . .
Denial
Fourteen years ago
frank hatson
Springtime
Naturally, he and Jacqui denied everything. The gall to suggest such a thing! How could you? Sick, that’s what you are, sick for even indulging in such a horrid accusation. And what, you think no better of your daughter? That Jacqui would just fall into the arms of some forty-year-old man, just like that?
Frank could so clearly remember the look on Bill’s face. Red and fuming, vessels popping from his forehead like worms that might crawl out from his skin and slither down behind the collar of his shirt.
But Lynda’s reaction surprised him. She remained stone-faced. Impassive. It was chilling, in a way, and in that moment, Frank Hatson had the slightest wash of fear.
She didn’t do the predictable thing and come at him, yelling and screaming with fists to his chest. Not like his wife did when the accusation first came about.
Holly had been crushed when the Carlisles confronted them both on the matter. She and Frank stormed out of happy hour at the club—lured into a public place, no doubt, so that no one could cause a scene—and rushed home where Holly unleashed her torment onto her husband.
“How could you?” she cried. “To a young girl!”
Frank had gone from enraged at his wife’s mistrust in him, to sobbing at the way the snobs of the world like the Carlisles would stop at nothing to take him down. Anything to remove a perceived threat. Couldn’t she see that? Couldn’t she see the way their jealousy of all they had accomplished was beginning to make them wary of losing their coveted thrones? Of course they needed a reason to pull away. It was the perfect plan! Throw some foolish accusation out there, pull their investment, forcing him to sell off the business and be left in the dust to start again. You can’t trust anyone, he told his wife. How well did either of them really know the Carlisles, anyway? Who knew where exactly they came from or how it all started? He had a feeling they had some illegal connections somewhere, the money they flashed was too much to be from just being good with numbers and financial planning or basic real estate investments. Lynda in particular was suspiciously quiet about her upbringing, Frank could smell a weasel like her from a mile away. There’s something dark about her, he told his wife. Any halfwit could see that. Couldn’t she?
That seemed to sink in with Holly. And Frank knew how to handle his wife. When she was upset, she would make a fool of herself in her hysterics. He’d ride out the waves of her emotional crisis until they passed, and she’d drop to the floor in a fit of tears. His arms would be wide and waiting for her as he soothed her in his lap, stroking her pale hair with assurances that everything would be alright. She would sniffle out her apologies for losing it on him, how wonderful and patient he was with her distraught tantrums, how was it that he could love a fool like her so much ?
But Lynda Carlisle was a different breed. She wasn’t the sort to do that kind of thing. And it was that obvious undercurrent of poise, power, and control that Lynda exhibited that shook Frank to his core. He didn’t like it.
From day one, he had been leery of her. Bill was his speed. The two men clicked right from the start. They’d slapped each other’s backs with their handshake when the final papers were signed, the Carlisle investments solidified for Frank’s clinics. Bill was eager and excited for the expansions to come, a new wave of beauty combined with healthcare. They’d find a physician for future sites, grow their services, Bill would see to it. They would build an empire on the cutting edge advances and technologies that were sure to offer the latest in bottled-up youth and preservation.
And then it was all yanked away. How stupid he had been to allow himself to get caught up in the siren spell of the daughter of the people who had a chokehold on his wallet. He wondered if he loved her, if Cupid had speared his heart and made him blind with his obsession with Jacqui. That had to be it, someone had cursed him and forced him into ruin.
Oh, how Jacqui cried when he severed ties with her.
But I love you! she had said.
Yes, I know, sweetheart. I love you too. But we can’t continue, I have a wife and children. You can’t possibly ask me to leave my family, can you? You wouldn’t do that, break up a loving household, would you?
The way she shook her head no, her tears spilling down her beautiful face. Jacqui was so lovely. A curvy girl, and at the age that he knew brought about insecurities in a young woman, which made him fall for her even more. So blissfully unaware of the natural sexual appeal she had. He had thought of her as a muse of sorts. The type of youthful beauty he hoped to sell to the masses. He had been on his way to his fortune, and then his muse had caused it all to disappear. As in the world of drugs, never take your own product. What a fool he had been .
No matter. Frank was nothing if not cunning. Resourceful. He would start fresh, Desiree would be starting college in two years. He’d groom her for her future as a plastic surgeon, and he’d get his second chance. Make the right investments, secure a new network of contacts, and begin again.
Dylan was worthless in the business sense, that much Frank already knew. A meathead who was finding his glory in football, which his father found peculiar. Dylan’s charm was much like Frank’s, sure, but his mind was wildly different than his own. No crafty spirit, nor the brains like Holly or Desiree.
It wasn’t until the scholarship offers started rolling in—the wining and dining from Division One schools all there to recruit his son—it was only then that Frank could see the appeal in Dylan’s future. He had Frank’s athletic build. Maybe Dylan was more like Frank than he realized.
Yes, Frank could be the father of a football star, that would suit just fine. The money Dylan would get once he was drafted would be Frank’s get-out-of-jail free card. Frank wouldn’t hold onto hope for a first round pick, as he wasn’t a dreamer in that sense, but even bottom of the barrel would receive a lump sum.
Everything would be just fine.